Poison to tackle wild dog woes

The national wild dog facilitator says the feral dog population is on the rise in the Northern Territory.

Greg Mifsud says a poison has been developed to address wild dog problems and could be ready for use in Australia by next year.

He says the only major disadvantage is that the poison is lethal for goannas.

"We've got issues on the outskirts of Alice here where you've got issues with town dogs and wild dogs overlapping, well then the opportunity to use PAPP with an antidote will give you the opportunity to recover a roaming domestic dog that's accidentally taken the bait, so I think it will have quite good uses," he said.

"We've had a number of good seasons now, we're seeing as a result of that dog numbers and impacts increasing around the country, so I think the issue here is definitely increasing and some of the discussions I've had with producers indicate they are concerned and they are looking for options to improve their control."

The chairman of the Alice Springs branch of the Northern Territory's Cattlemen's Association, Christopher Nott, says the poison would be a good option for pastoralists.

"We need a cooperative approach to baiting, we need less red tape so it's easier for the pastoralists to do baiting programs ... they're a big problem now because numbers have just exploded in the last few years and so we've got a big problem now," he said.

Local landowner Keven Heincey says feral dogs and cats have been a major problem at his property.

"Had a bit of a problem with feral cats and the thing that worries me about them is the damage to wildlife ... they can do and I love the birds and they tend to do that and from time to time, they do attack the chickens that I breed for the show," he said.